They opened with a 4-0 loss to Finland in Helsinki on August 30, 2004, followed by a narrow loss to Sweden 4-3 on September 1st in Stockholm, both times while wearing their white jerseys.
They returned home to Prague on this date in 2004 to face Germany and donned their red jerseys for the one and only time. Marek Zidlicky opened the scoring on the power play at 2:56 of the second period. Jiri Slegr scored a minute and a half later to increase the Czech lead to 2-0 at 4:27. Jaromir Jagr continued the scoring for the Czechs within another 90 seconds with a goal at 5:52.
Milan Hejduk added another power play goal five minutes later for a 4-0 lead to chase Germany goaltender Robert Muller from the net. Patrik Elias ended the second period barrage at 15:48 to put the game firmly in Czech control with their fifth goal of the period when he scored on relief goalie Oliver Jonas.
Tino Boos broke through for Germany at 3:55 of the third which was countered by Martin Havlat at 10:59.
Jochen Hecht scored a second goal for Germany at 17:19 and Vaclav Prospal made the final margin 7-2 with an assist from Jagr at the 18:36 mark. Tomas Vokoun got the win for the Czech Republic which allowed them to advance to the playoff round and a quarterfinal rematch with Sweden.
In a surprising turnaround, the Czechs blasted the Swedes 6-1 in Stockholm to reach the semifinals and a matchup with eventual champions Canada, who ended the Czech's tournament with a 4-3 win in overtime.
Havlat led the Czech Republic in scoring with 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points in 5 games.
Today's featured jersey is a 2004 Czech Republic Jaromir Jagr jersey as worn on on this date in 2004 in the Czech Republic's 7-2 victory over Germany in Prague, the only time the Czechs would wear their red jerseys during the tournament.
Aside from the 2004 World Cup of Hockey logo patch worn on all players jerseys during the tournament, the Czech Republic's jerseys also had a #21 memorial patch for Ivan Hlinka, the Czech hockey legend who was to have been the Czech Republic's coach during the tournament. Hlinka, who had once coached the Pittsburgh Penguins, was killed in a car accident just two weeks prior to the tournament. Czech Republic captain Robert Reichel, who normally wore #21, changed to #22 for the tournament out of respect for Hlinka.
Our video section today are highlights of the Czech Republic's game versus Germany where today's featured jersey was worn for the only time in the tournament.
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